Operation Use It Up

This month, I managed to finish up several full-sized products (finally!).

1. Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil Advanced Classic is a special edition featuring illustrations by Moyoco Anno from the Tokyo Kamon Girls collection. This melts off the toughest waterproof makeup in a jiffy. A 450ml bottle lasts about 3 months with daily use (at three pumps per application). I still have two bottles from this collection, which is why I only purchased one bottle from the recent Mame Chiyo collection.

2. Jurlique Balancing Foaming Cleanser is a gentle cleanser that works well as it does not strip my skin or leave it feeling tight. I use this on its own as well as with my Clarisonic Mia. However, it's just too pricey for a face cleanser at S$64. I purchased this only because there was a 50% discount at Robinsons at that time. It contains many herbal extracts and essential oils, which can be irritating for some people.


3. The Body Shop Chocomania Body Scrub provides decent exfoliating action but it seems to melt away quite fast so I ended up having to use quite a lot of product. The 50ml pot lasted less than three uses for me. I also did not like the chocolate scent of this, which is a bit like chocolate milk that has been left out too long. Philosophy does much more delicious-smelling chocolate shower gels .


4. I had high hopes for the Lush Dreamwash which is a calamine-based calming shower soap, as the skin on my shins have been especially irritated of late after the dry winter. However, this did not have a significant effect and it also left my skin feeling slightly dry afterwards.

5. Lush is famous for their Fresh Face Masks which are made with lots of fresh fruits and other food ingredients. Cosmetic Warrior is targeted at acne-prone skin. It has an invigorating tea tree scent and kaolin to help draw out impurities. It left my skin feeling very smooth and cleansed afterwards, but I still do get acne thereafter. The 75g pot looks small but this provided six generous uses for me. Also, if you return five clean pots to Lush in the UK, you get another one for free. The pots are recycled to make new pots.

6. Soap & Glory Off Your Face Cleansing Cloths are touted as 3-in-1 cleansing, toning and skin smoothing cloths. These did not impress me at all as the cloths were not sufficiently moist. Cleansing cloths in general do not remove all traces of makeup so I still prefer to use either a cleansing oil or micellar cleanser like Bioderma, which are faster and more effective.


7. The Body Shop Morinaga shower gel is pretty standard. It lathers up easily and has a soothing floral scent that is not too heavy or cloying.

8. Rituals Sereni-tea comes out of the bottle as an incredibly rich foam that feels luxurious on the skin. The clean green tea and cherry blossom scent is nicely relaxing although I still prefer the mandarin scent of Fujiyama.

9. Dove Intense Repair Overnight Treatment helps to tame the frizz somewhat but it did significantly improve the fundamental state of my hair, which is very dry currently after the last dye job. I prefer to use a hair oil, which makes my locks sleeker and more manageable.


10. Essential Rich Premier Shampoo is the worst shampoo that I've ever used. I was quite surprised by this as I used a previous version of it some years ago and quite liked it. This left me with an itchy scalp that then proceeded to break out in several spots, which is something I've never experienced with other shampoos.


11. Daiso Sponge Detergent is a staple for cleaning my sponges and foundation brushes. It removes the powder, liquid and cream foundations much faster than MAC Brush Cleanser. Plus it's incredibly cheap at just S$2.

I also used up the three LoveMore My Melody masks that Elaine gifted me recently. These were good for combating skin flakes, leaving the skin feeling plumped and soothed. I also finished three candles from Archipelago Botanicals and Slatkin & Co.. The Sparkling Mojito from Slatkin was a bit too vanilla sweet.